Bolivia’s Cocaine Bar

As drug abuse is rising at an alarming rate, some places are lifting a ban on marijuana, places like Amsterdam are known for featuring the finest hashish on actual menus. Several states have recently legalized marijuana in the US, but in South America, Bolivia has taken a steep and bold jump with cocaine bars which let its customers order “a gram of coke” with a your favorite drink.

The bar known as Route 36 is also touted as the first cocaine bar in the world and although it is situated in La Paz, it keeps on changing the location in order to avoid the authorities.

The existence of such a bar in Bolivia may come as no surprise if you know that the coca leaf is cultivated locally in the country and is a traditionally popular product in the region.

“Since they are an after-hours club and serve cocaine the neighbors tend to complain pretty fast. So they move all the time. Maybe if they are lucky they last three months in the same place, but often it is just two weeks. Route 36 is a movable feast,” says a Bolivian newspaper editor who asked not to be named. “One day it is in one zone and then it pops up in another area. Certainly it is the most famous among the backpacker crowd but there are several other places that are offering cocaine as well. Because Route 36 changes addresses so much there is a lot of confusion about how many cocaine bars are out there.”This new trend of ‘cocaine tourism’ can be put down to a combination of Bolivia’s notoriously corrupt public officials, the chaotic “anything goes” attitude of La Paz.

As surreal as it may sound, the bar serves a drug known to be one of the most destructive and addictive substances which has had drastic consequences on many people across the globe, while drug wars have resulted in the death of countless people, others just keep partying on…